Tuesday, January 23, 2018

THESE TWO THINGS ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE

Author Michael Wolff said in a new interview that he believes President Trump does not want to be the president.

"There is nothing to indicate that ... Trump is going to find his footing as the president of the United States, that he's going to be able to put a staff around him ... that knows what they're doing and a staff that he listens to," Wolff told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation....

"In the end, I think that the real truth is he does not want to be the president — the president of the United States," Wolff said. "He wants to be, instead, Donald Trump."

Drudge Report’s Matt Drudge said in a rare tweet Tuesday that President Trump loves his job and is “already talking about his 2020 re-election run.” ...

“Time to call out Michael Wolff and his fabricated bullshit!” Drudge tweeted. “I had dinner with the president a few weeks ago and he was in fine form. He was optimistic, engaged, on top of the world, loving the job. And already talking about his 2020 re-election run!!”

I don't know if either of these guys is telling the truth, but they both could be mostly correct. I'm sure Trump did tell Drudge that he's psyched about his reelection bid -- Trump has been running for reelection literally since the day he was inaugurated. It's been argued that this is a way for Trump to drum up money, but it's also obvious that nothing about being president could ever be as awesome for Trump as running for president was -- all those cheering deplorables, all that adulation. It's probably killing him that he has to wait a couple more years to run again.

Is he "optimistic, engaged, on top of the world, loving the job"? Who knows? Wolff spent time in the White House when Trump was stumbling through early days as president; if Drudge had dinner with him "a few weeks ago," it was probably when the Republicans had passed the tax cut bill. Trump probably thought he'd made that happen, just the way he now thinks he personally ended the shutdown.

But generally speaking? I judge from the reports on Trump's ever-expanding "executive time" in front of the TV and on his frustration at the restrictions imposed on him by chief of staff John Kelly, and I assume he's not having a lot of fun day to day. He clearly doesn't want to do the job as it's normally done. He seemed optimistic and engaged to Drudge when he wasn't in the office. He seemed miserable to Wolff when he was. I assume Wolff is closer to the truth.

*****

Or to put it another way:

Like many high level executives, he wants the title and authority, but not the job and responsibility. Autonomy without accountability is also something small children want, not coincidentally. https://t.co/j1ycej20f3